In case you hadn’t guessed, I have recently been SUPER anxious about my ability to get Kristi and Katia into carriers so I could take them for their spay surgeries. I slept poorly Sunday night, and in fact woke up around 4:30 so I could lay there and fret about it. (Which was superseded shortly after by the fact that my site was down for reasons Fred couldn’t figure out, and Dreamhost support runs on Pacific Time, which meant that we couldn’t contact them for another couple of hours. That problem resolved itself, thankfully, and hopefully we won’t have any more issues.) I get a little stressed even when I have to take a litter of easy-to-handle kittens for their surgery, not because I expect issues but because I hate when they get scared, and just having to put them through it (while also glad that it’s getting done!)
Finally, when it was nearly time to leave, I walked into the foster room. I was very happy to see that Katia was already in the carrier she’d been hanging out in (I was SO sure that when the time came, she’d be nowhere near the carrier), and all I had to do was cut the zip tie holding the door to the carrier shut, and then shut the door. It took her a minute to figure out she couldn’t get out, and then she freaked out. I put a towel over the top of her carrier, and she settled down. I took her carrier down to the car (checking the latches on the top and front of the carrier about 30 times to make sure they were latched properly), and then Fred went into the room with me to see about Kristi.
Kristi was a little spooked so she ran to her safe space, the spot in front of the window. I put the carrier down next to that cabinet and backed off. Fred petted her for a minute, then scruffed her and set her in the carrier. She let out a few loud meows of protest, but also settled down once I had her carrier covered with a towel.
(I had such a rush of adrenaline/dread before walking into the room to get Katia that I had jelly legs afterward and had to sit down for a moment. I mean, how silly is that?)
Torvill and Oksana were easy – set down the carrier, wait ’til they come over to see what’s going on, pop them into the carrier – and we were on our way soon enough.
I got to see Dean and Katarina, who were a little freaked out, but SO NOSY about what was going on. (Katarina weighed just 2.4 pounds, while Dean tipped the scales at 3.7!)
Oksana and Torvill went next, followed by Katia, and then Kristi went last. I don’t think this shows in her pictures, but even after having her kittens, Kristi’s belly stayed pretty round. When the vet first saw her, she thought she was pregnant. After surgery, she reported that Kristi’s uterus was pretty large. I imagine that those years of having kittens took a toll, and I’m glad her kitten-bearing years are over. (As an aside: the vet said that in her opinion Kristi isn’t 7 or 8, she’s more like 5 years old, and Katia is probably about 2.)
We got home mid-afternoon, and Kristi and Katia spent the rest of the afternoon curled up together, casting terrified looks at me when I walked into the room (SIGH), and ignoring the kittens. Oksana was pretty quiet, but Torvill took a short nap and then played with the other kittens. I suspect by the end of today neither kitten will even remember that something happened to them.
The six little kittens poofed up a little when they first sniffed Kristi and Katia, but they got over it quickly.
So all in all, it went as well as I hoped it would. I don’t know that we’ll ever convince Katia to hang out in that carrier again, but at least she’s spayed, tested, and vaccinated, and I won’t have to worry about her going into heat!
Kristi, before surgery. (I don’t have any post-surgery pictures of any of them yet – I was trying to give them a little space to recover.)
Katia, before surgery.
Judging by that look on Picabo’s face, Brian Boitano’s talkin’ ’bout those toes again.
Scott and Ohno are all “Oh, good. Another toe dissertation.”
“Pardon me ma’am, have you heard about the toes?”
Sleepy kitten pie. (Picabo and Scott)
Oh, that girl. She has the MOST serious little face, but she’s SUCH a lovebug.
“Forget about the toes,” says Debi. “Have you seen my fabulous STRIPES?”
Torvill joins his little AuntieSisterCousinFriend.
Debi’s learned how fun it is to knock that tree over.
Ohno yelling at Picabo not to bite her tail, and Tessa’s all “HERE I COME!”
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“Lady, put that camera away. You’re distracting me from keeping an eye on these ornj idiots.”
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Previously
2017: “Hey, you guys, wake up and play!”
2016: “Mama, Mama, Mama! Gimme a piggyback ride!”
2015: Da baby.
2014: Livia’s just tired of me and that stupid camera.
2013: Talk about covered in kittens!
2012: They decided I might be okay.
2011: No entry.
2010: No entry.
2009: Scheming.
2008: BRATS.
2007: I think the shirt is broken, though. No one ever offers me chocolate!
2006: No entry.
2005: No entry.
Ohno yelling at Picabo not to bite her tail, and Tessa’s all “HERE I COME!”
– Ok, that is an excellent picture.
Thank goodness Katia was in the carrier. A true blessing…else it could have been a blood bath!
Poor Kristi. I am glad she was caught and now spayed. I don’t want to even think about how sick her enlarged uterus would have made her if she was still out there. I pray her and Katia get a home together and actually feel loved and safe.
Roby (and Fred), thanks for each life you change.
All the stress and anxiety beforehand was SO worth it knowing that neither of those girls will have to birth any more kittens! (As much as we love their kittens, of course.)
Amen, sis’ta!
Ornj idiots, lol.
Oh, it’s a relief to hear that the surgeries went well, with minimal blood loss on your part. I’m glad everyone came through ok!
(Wait, Dean is now 3.7 lbs?!!)
He’s gonna be huuuuuuuuge! 🙂
<3
It looks like your new host is blocking all traffic from VPN’s, which sucks because surfing the web w/out a VPN isn’t an option for me due to the nature of my work. Oh well. It’s been fun while it lasted.
We use a VPN and have no trouble seeing the site. I don’t know if this would help you, but I found this from a Dreamhost message board about this very topic (though I guess it’s only applicable if you use PIA) :
Open PIA, enter SETTINGS, then Advanced Settings. Turn PIA MACE and DNS LEAK protection off.
I tried that and it did work. Unfortunately I do a lot of work for the goverment and changing my VPN’s settings isn’t an option.
Having said that, I just bought a Android tablet on Amazon, will be able to tether it to my phone and hopefully still visit with the Bubelah’s each and every morning and not break protocol.
The extra toe beans kill me dead and my life would be a whole lot poorer if I didn’t have that to look forward to.
I’m on a vpn for work. Fortunately I can turn it off because there are a lot of websites that don’t come up, but I am currently on it and her website came up for me and I was able to comment.
I live in the country and several years ago I had to deal with three feral mamas in a row! Each time I was able to handle the kittens and separate them from their mamas for two weeks in order for the mamas to stop lactating before being spayed. I am now dealing with a very feral mama and three feral kittens that all had to be trapped. I cannot touch any of them yet. The mama will have to be trapped a second time in order to be separated and I just don’t know if I can handle a third time to get her fixed… is this process nessasary? Did you separate these mamas from their kittens at all? I’d like to only trap the mama one more time and get her spayed. I have a place for her to recover and hopefully she will live out her days content in my little colony. I will try to tame kittens and get them homes.
Robyn probably knows better than I do, but I don’t think it’s necessary. The couple of times my parents have had feral mamas spayed, they haven’t had to separate the kittens at all prior to the surgeries.
I’ve never needed to separate mothers from their kittens prior to surgery – they were with the kittens right up until we left, and they went right back in with them with no issues.
I gather the surgery is easier and less risky when not lactating. Vets my rescue work with prefer a two week split, but will spay a nursing mama if necessary. Same for in heat…
I took two of mine to the vet Saturday morning and one of them always makes it overly dramatic. I can’t get her in a crate in the house. I have to set the crate up in my car and then hope she hasn’t caught on that anything’s happening so I can pick her up (which she hates) and carry her kicking and screaming, quite literally, to the car and only then will she go in the crate. Thank goodness for our wonderful vet who knows she is all talk and no action with the hissing and growling that she sometimes does.
Oh my, that’s a great idea. I will have to use it.
I put the carrier in the front passenger seat with the open door facing the drivers seat. I get in with Bunny in my right arm and slam the door with my left hand so there’s no escaping from the car and every single time she goes right into the crate because she’s so appalled at how she has been manhandled and mistreated. Otherwise, it’s like trying to get a 20 pound fur covered octopus in a carrier door that has suddenly shrunk to about 6″ square.
That’s a great idea!
I hope your car is in the garage, else, couldn’t they accidentally get loose?
Tessa jumping out of the box is awesome!
3.7 pounds?? Deanzilla indeed
That boy is gonna be huuuuuge. 🙂
I think that I act just like you did when going to the vet. My present Penelope scared the pants off of me when she came home from the vet. She jumped up into my face and all I could think of was that she was the devil incarnate. That was years ago but I still respect her anger.
I totally understand where you are coming from about getting cats to the vet. I have one who is generally curious enough about the carrier that she will just go in it (or even sleep in it, I set it up the night before I have to use it). But if she isn’t in it, or I can’t pop her in it easily the first time I try, it’s just not happening. She will seriously kill me. Normally she is a loving girl but she has a feral past and that does come out sometimes. Good on you for getting it done.
Robyn, I got the shakes and rubbery legs just reading about trying to get Katia and Kristi to the vets. I have a semi-feral boy that causes me all kinds of anguish when I have to directly handle him. I’ve had him for seven years and I still get queasy thinking about it. So I have launched a taming campaign and it’s going pretty well. I can now give him ear rubs and tail and chin scratches but I don’t think I will ever be able to medicate him on a regular basis should the need arise. I have to remember that I’m giving him the best life possible and not always the life I wish he had.
I totally get the jelly leg thing.. it is stressful to deal with a feral cat, not only because you want to keep them happy, but you want to keep them happy so they don’t go off on you and take off your face. it is a very stressful job knowing if you make one wrong move you could end up in the hospital on antibiotics.
There is a proverb that leaping Tessa picture reminds me of:
“Because we focused on the snake, we missed the scorpion”
And I think there was one version that goes “the wise person watches both the snake and the scorpion”
Great picture you got of those three!